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Comparison of Major White-Collar Offenders with Serial Killers Offenders

White collar crime has largely evolved over the years and the definition of the crime has even shifted from focusing on the perpetrators to the actual crime committed. Previously, it was assumed that white-collar criminals were non-violent and the conclusion was that all white-collar crimes were not harmful (Gottschalk, 2016). However, in the contemporary times, the seriousness and extent of white-collar crimes is similar to that of street crimes. Additionally, white collar criminals have been found to contain some features and behavioral traits of serial killer offenders. Although both major white-collar offenders and serial killer offenders are similar in their social learning characteristics such as predatory behavior and organization, they differ in their reinforcements.

One of the similarities between major white-collar offenders and serial killers is that they both possess some predatory behavior. Specifically, they both prey upon their victims based on a circumstance of location. For instance,  Richard Marc Evonitz (a serial killer) preyed on teenagers and used the behavior of abducting them when in places where he could not be identified (FBI, 2013a). A similar case is seen in the case of Sholam Weiss who preyed on unsuspecting customers of National Heritage Life Insurance to launder their prey and engage in racketeering and wire fraud. The second similarity between the two crimes that the criminals are organized (Gottschalk, 2017). For instance, Bernard Madoff; convicted of white-collar crime of the Ponzi scheme and money laundering, was organized in such a manner that his victims took a long time to discover his activities. Similarly, serial killers are organized and take the lives of a number of people before they are discovered. For instance, it took authorities more than five years for them to identify Richard Marc Evonitz as a serial killer.

Serial killers may sometimes be motivated by a negative reinforcement to continue killing people. For instance, serial killers who manage to escape from prison are likely to continue engaging in such behavior. One of the examples of the serial killer whose actions can be attributed to some negative reinforcement is Theodore “Ted” Bundy. Notably, he escaped from prison and the anger of having been incarcerated led to him to engage in even more serial killings (FBI, 2013b). He also was very predatory in his behavior because he looked for victims in areas of gathering such as beaches and colleges. Based on these behavioral characters, FBI has resorted to the use of criminal profiling to resolve major white-collar crimes and even public order killings. Specifically, the FBI use both psychological profiling and suspect-based profiling to gather information about possible perpetrators of crime and come to a conclusion as to the most likely persons (Gottschalk, 2017). Criminal profiling provides vital personality composites that direct investigators to the most probable persons.

In conclusion, although law enforcement officers used to view white-collar crime as non-violent, there are certain behavioral attributes that are common between serial killers and white-collar criminals. Both types of criminals have predatory behaviors and are organized. Additionally, they are motivated by negative reinforcements such as when they get out of prison after having been incarcerated for their crimes. As such, the FBI is now relying on criminal profiling to get important personality composites that can lead to the identification of the perpetrators of both white-collar crimes and public order crimes.